Nonfiction Text Features iMovie

Our latest iMovie is here! Students did a fantastic job of working together to create this movie about nonfiction text features. Many seem confident that they can make their own iMovie productions soon, after helping me to create this one as a class. I have no doubt this is true! Without further adieu...enjoy the show!

Audioboo app

I introduced a new app called Audioboo today. This app allows students to record themselves and then play back their audio recordings. We are using it to self-assess reading fluency. This week is just a try-it-out week. Next week, students will attempt to sign in and share their "boos" (recordings). So far, so good!

Patterns and the iPad

Some groups used the iPad today to record their thinking about patterns during our math workshop station time. ShowMe is a very basic, easy-to-use, FREE app. It has many possibilities, which I'm sure we'll explore as the year goes on. Today, I taught children how to take a photo of the pattern they created, label it with letters, and then record their descriptions of the pattern. Here are some samples from today. I hope to share everyone's soon. Also, only half of the class did this station today--the rest will enjoy this activity tomorrow.

This was the lesson I created with students as an example:


Here is Zachary's lesson:


Here is Makayla's lesson:


Here is Kasil's lesson:


Here is Kamron's lesson:

"We Are Alike; We Are Different"--Our first iMovie!

If you're a regular follower of our blog, you have already read about the iMovie project we worked on as a culmination of our first theme unit: All About Me. So, it's with excitement and pride that I present to you our very first iMovie of the school year (rest assured there will be many more). This time, I was the videographer and producer, but soon the students will be doing all of this work on their own with only minimal guidance from me. That's part of the magic of the iPad--it's so user-friendly! Without further adieu, here's our first production:

Fluency practice, wonderful writing, and math at Morning Meeting...

Fluency Practice:

This week, we added another choice to our literacy station schedule--fluency practice using an app called Audioboo on the iPad. It's a pretty basic recording app, but WOW--student motivation to read independently SOARED last week! I have never seen so many students choose "Read to Self" as their literacy station as they did last week. Hearing themselves read was a huge motivation. Students practiced their reading and recorded it until they thought it sounded fluent. They could then save their fluent recording to share with me/others. If you have a recorder of some sort at home, I'd recommend inviting your child to use it to record their reading. They loved hearing themselves and I heard some pretty amazingly fluent reading! 

Here are a few photos of students using the Audioboo app:

 

 

Wonderful Writing:

These two girls worked collaboratively to write a book about chicks last week. They were excited to share it with our class, and the class was a very appreciative audience!

Math at Morning Meeting:

Math happens a lot more than just during math time! For example, one of our morning greetings last week was the dice roll addition greeting. Students touch the dice on the interactive whiteboard, add the total, and count that many people around the circle. They greet the person they end up facing. For example, if the roll was 3+4+2, they student would count 9 people around the circle and greet the ninth person. Then that person would take a turn rolling and adding until everyone has been greeted. We discussed how it's best to start with the largest number, try to find a fact you know "in a snap" (for example, 4+3=7 and then add the last number, so 7+2=9. I am trying to break the habit of counting all the dots on the dice to determine the total. Counting on is more efficient and having fact power (knowing the sum automatically or with very little thought) is even better.

 

Mirroring with the iPad using Apple TV

It has been wonderful having access to multiple iPads for the past several weeks. The iPad cart is such an amazing resource! We use the iPads in many ways--the photos below show students working with a partner to show given amounts of coins. Once everyone had enough "think time" to come up with coin combinations that equaled the given amount, students were invited to mirror their solutions on the interactive whiteboard. Mirroring means that whatever is shown on an individual iPad can be projected onto another screen. This allowed several student partnerships to show their work and describe their thinking in a relatively short period of time. 

 

 

 

 

The iPads in action

Our class is enjoying exploring the iPads. We often use a set of 5 iPads for small group station time during Reading Workshop, SWR, and Math. So far, students  have had a lot of freedom in which apps to use. All of the apps on the iPads were pre-screened to ensure appropriate content and relevance to education. Since having regular access to this device is so new, I wanted to allow ample opportunity for students to explore. We are now at a point when students will still have some choice of apps to use, but their time with iPads will be more focused and will sometimes require a "product" at the end. 

Busy blogger!

For example, students  have learned to access their KidBlog on the iPad and are creating posts/commenting on others' posts. They are also creating presentations about things they've learned using the Educreations app.

Have you noticed the new theme on our Kidblog?

Students had some "aha!" moments while using a letter formation app (their choice). They realized that it wouldn't "pass" them to the next letter unless they showed they knew the proper formation. Great practice!

Recently, I've been teaching students how to use iMovie, so creating iMovies in small groups is something coming up soon. This week, students will learn how to take a video on the iPad and will then have a choice of whether to create a simple movie with the Camera app or create a more elaborate video using iMovie. They will be creating "how to" videos to go along with our latest unit of study in writing. Stay tuned!

Here's a how-to iMovie we created together on Friday:

New technology!

This was another exciting week in terms of technology in our classroom! I introduced the MP3 players (thank you to the four families who offered to record books on MP3 for us!). Students enjoyed listening to the great recordings during our Reading Workshop. 

But, I don't think anything can compare to the excitement that resulted from the announcement that the new iPad cart is here! I have been researching and implementing instruction with the iPad throughout this school year. We are fortunate in our classroom to have had an iPad AND an Apple TV for a while now. Whatever is on any iPad can be projected onto the interactive whiteboard. This has allowed us to do some pretty amazing things! Your children LOVE the iPad and really enjoy using the apps. They all know what "mirroring" to the Apple TV means, so if you're not sure--ask a 1st grader! ;-)

So, today, when I announced that the UMS iPad cart is here and ready to go, students were SOOOO excited! (I don't blame them--it is an amazing learning tool!) We are part of a pilot at UMS. There are three teachers at UMS who are part of this pilot. Right now, the cart houses 20 iPads, and they are all equipped with apps that are appropriate for learning in the primary grades. The cart will be available to all beginning in the 2012-2013 school year. In the meantime, me, the other two UMS teachers, and the students in our classes will help work out the kinks. What a fun and useful task! I feel confident in saying that our class will do amazing things with these iPads. They are equipped with some great knowledge and motivation and are ready to GO!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fluency and the iPad

We now have TWO iPads in our classroom and exciting things are happening, with many more exciting iPad activities to come after our upcoming vacation. I've been experimenting with various ways to enhance student learning with the iPad. One thing that it is wonderful for is monitoring reading fluency. This week, two reading groups were able to use an app called Educreations to paste photos of book pages and then record their reading. What a neat way to monitor how we sound in reading! 

Magnets and the scientific method

Check out what we did with our iPad today!

Big News about the iPad!

You will hear/see more about soon, but we now have an Apple TV in the classroom, which means that we can "mirror" whatever is on the iPad to the big screen (which in our classroom in an interactive whiteboard).  This is going to be an amazing tool! It was so neat to pass the iPad around at our morning meeting yesterday as we analyzed the text of a Valentine's Day poem. Students love how easy it is to write on the iPad and how everyone can see what they do on the larger screen. I am truly amazed with technology and the many ways it can enhance learning. Stay tuned! 

Four Winds, Guidance, and iPad

I hope you are having a great week! We're busy as always (in a good way) at school. Here's a look at some of what we've been up to on Monday and Tuesday this week...

The Four Winds puppet show--this month's theme is snow. I am always so amazed with how well students retain information from these puppet shows. It's remarkable!

These coffee filter snowflakes were amazing! I think I need to do a quick video tutorial to share with everyone. They were just so gorgeous and so much easier to cut than regular paper. Thanks, Mrs. Gamelin!

So intent on his work!

Beautiful!

Look at those snowflakes!

More gorgeous snowflakes!

Students collected snow (yes, we managed to find some behind our school!) and put it in cups. They then drew a line and predicted how much water would be left when the snow melted. Many were surprised at how little water was in the cup today when they returned to school and checked out their cups. It will be interesting to repeat this experiment when we study solids/liquids. I hope we'll have some fresh fluffy snow by then to use for comparison!

Guidance--we summarized some of the things people can do to "attract" rather than "repel" our friends and everyone chose one of these tips to put on a friendship magnet to bring home. Most didn't make it home today as you will see below. I will encourage students to bring them home tomorrow!

"Be friendly!"

"Be a good sport!"

Careful artists...quality work takes time! :-)

These were left on the easel after school...I think everyone liked how they look together!

SWR--I found another great app to use for working with word families (Word Wizard). Students love the iPad and we made this a whole group activity by putting it under the document camera and projecting it onto the Smartboard. We have some more tech-savvy ways of sharing the iPad in the works. Stay tuned! Also, I know a lot of great apps but am always looking for more. Feel free to send any recommendations to me!

We are spending some time this week reviewing strategies to help when you're stuck on a word in reading. We have some great new beanie baby animals to use as props to help remember the strategies (thank you, Kaleb's grandmother!). The strategies reviewed today and tomorrow are pictured below.